Life's a beach!

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So I'm acutally in Cambodia right now, but it's been a while since I updated (as ever) so I must back fill.....

So from Singapore I caught the night train to Kuala Lumpur, which is a really lovely city, so much good food I wish I had a spare stomach, like a cow! I wanted to go up to the brige that connects the famous towers, but due to a train carsh a week earlier, trains were running much slower than usual and mine was almost 3 hours late. So I jst took pictures of the tower and went up the Menara Kuala Lumpur, which is the 4th tallest telecommuncations tower in the world, dontcha know? I also ate 2 curries and some hot&sour noodles that day. Mmmmmm. I found out the boys had moved on from Bangkok, and were in a little seaside town called Hua Hin.

I befriended an elederly Malaysian couple who took pity on me and gave me biscuits and fruit. They were lvoely, she woke up to wave me off the train at Penang at Hua Hin, and the lady behind the desk told me she didn't know if one was running that day, and so I should phone some number to ask THEM, two hours later. Obviously, I couldn't hang aroud, so I had to buy a ticket to get back on the same train and head to Hat Yai (just over into Thailand) which my guidebook said specifically to avoid, as martial law has been declared in some of the provinces surrounding it. Due to terrorism. It's jut as well I don't read the guidebook in advance, or my 6 hours there would have been scary as well as tedious. Oh, and irritating as I had an email from Len telling me they'd bought tickets to Phuket, but I'd already bought my ticket to Hua Hin, and I was fed up of travelling, especially solo! We had a little heated online discussion, thank you facebook, which he eventually agreed to stay in Hua Hin, on the provisio that we'd leave that day (apparently it's full of old european men with young thai women in tow - eugh!)

I eventually got there (after a weird 30 mins in which the train guard offered me breakfast and coffee, which did not materialise, despite me sititng at the end of the carraige, with him standing next to me and everyone going to the bathroom giving me a funny look as they passed.........) and there were scenes of joy as the Brixtonites were reunited! We spent the day wandering round, eating and drinking vodka&tonics (for the mosquitoes you know...) and then we got a coach to Ko Tao, where I will be doing my instructor course, so I can meet the people.

After a very rocky boat ride (of which Len spent the duration on deck, catching the spary to the extent that he looked like he'd been caught ina tropical downpour), we arrived, and I got a little tour, we decided to stay the night, and i met the guy who will be teaching me, a really nic guy called Mark. We three basically then crashed out, until dinner time, at which point we began drinking before eating and you can probably guess the rest. The dive guys are great! So are all the other people I met that night! But the weirdest moment of my travel so far was when I was satnding outside the 7-11 and I heard someone exclaim my name. I turned to face them, and it was this really cool guy Alex, who is a fellow member of my dive group, Big Squid, back at home. I was so suprised, for 5 minutes, all I could say was ''Alex!....WHAT?!.....How random!" Suffice to say the night was amusing. It culminated in me and rob and len and a lovely girl called Kerstin sitting on a swinging seat, and Rob shouting "Let's jump into the sea!!" and me taking it seriously (No one else did).

I then had to sit on our verandah whilst Len and Rob went to find someone to let us in, as our key had been mysteriously lost. The first time Len went on his own, but he forgot what he was doing and bought crisps instead.

The next day we discovered why we were told not to drink Chang beer. The dreaded Changover. Oh god. Luckily our boat wasn't till 4 pm but the truck ride into town wasn't much fun.... but the catamaran ride to Ko Pha Ngan (home of the full moon party) was pretty good, despite the massive storm blowing in. We arrived and got a bungalow on the beach - but that can be continued next time....

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